On Tuesday, June 18th, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law House Bill 301 (the “Bill”), an insurance omnibus package aimed at modernizing the state’s surplus lines industry. We first discussed the Bill back in May, with Zachary Lerner stating:
“Earlier this month, Florida passed House Bill 301 to remove the cap on the amount of fees that may be charged by a surplus lines broker in connection with the procurement of surplus lines insurance for a prospective insured. Instead of the old cap of a maximum of $35 per policy, surplus lines brokers will be able to charge any fee that is “reasonable” and disclosed to the insured in advance. Once signed in to law, Florida will join a number of other states that permit “reasonable” surplus lines producer fees without specifying a monetary cap.”
With the Bill now taking effect in July, Florida hopes that by adopting the practice of charging a “reasonable” fee, that is itemized and enumerated to the consumer in advance, the surplus lines market will become more competitive for small to mid-sized businesses.
Among other things, the Bill amends the required reimbursement of loss adjustment expenses in reimbursement contracts between the State Board of Administration and property insurers under the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, addresses the threshold for exporting insurance in a way that seeks to provide property owners with additional options, allows for the reduction of the property value requirement in certain “diligent effort” circumstances, and amends the right of contribution among liability insures for defense costs.
The provisions of the Bill go into effect July 1, 2019.
A copy of the Bill may be found here.
